“Homecoming has a significant ring this time. More than ever it feels great to play at The Coliseum. We’ve seen some great stadiums and some great atmosphere, and we’re looking forward to stirring it up at home.”

“Great matchup. Stanford playing great football. Coming off their biggest win in a long time. As we’ve watched throughout the year, they have a great core on offense. Toby Gerhart is just a hammer for them. Andrew Luck allows them to throw all over the field. They threw the ball every way they wanted against Oregon.”

On Stanford QB Andrew Luck...“Luck is really good. He’s as good right now as anybody we’ve faced. They’ve allowed him to come out and go for it, and when you allow him that dimension with their running attack, he’s great. He’s got 5.2ypc so he can run too.”

“We have Matt playing as a freshman. Luck playing as a freshman. There are gonna be some big-time offenses the next few years in the Pac 10.”

“The defense was much improved against Arizona St.. Back on track. Getting after ‘em. Hittin’ the quarterback. We had a really good return as a defense.”

“Not much of an update on Damian Williams today. We’ll know more tonight. Anthony McCoy’s gonna run around today and see what he can do.”

On getting a week off before UCLA...“Having a bye after this week will be good. We have some guys who are hurt. It’ll give ‘em a chance to heal up for the last 2 games.”

“We’re working on some thoughts to try to improve 3rd down conversions. We have to get better there. We have to continue to seek stuff but it hasn’t been good enough. Mainly, we have to execute better. We’re tryin’ to catch up there.”

On Stanford's upset at the Coliseum 2 years ago...“This week, I won’t bring up their upset of us 2 years ago at the Coliseum. And, I won’t bring up our visit at their place last year.”

“Stanley Havili should start this week. He’ll be able to perform full-time duties.”

“Everson Griffin is getting close to being ready to go. We’ll have to see how he does running around all week. But he’s getting’ better every day.”

On Stanford's win over Oregon...“It surprised me that Stanford beat Oregon by throwing the football. They went deep 10 times in the first half and got 6 of them. They came out throwing. Once they developed that they were going to go after them throwing the ball, they were able to start pounding away with Gerhart.”

On whether Jim Harbaugh should consider jumping to the NFL...“I think Jim Harbaugh would do a great job in the NFL. His brother’s doin’ fine. They should look at him.”

On Jim Harbaugh calling Andrew Luck the best quarterback in the country…“Jim Harbaugh’s a guy that doesn’t mince words. He said it because he believed it. He’s a special kid, and just look at how he’s played since then. That’s been a demonstration of what Jim believes.”

COACH JIM HARBAUGH

On the win over Oregon...“I was proud of our players and coaches and how we played and how we prepared for Oregon. This week is put-up or shut-up time for Stanford football.”

On Toby Gerhart…“Tough, smart, competitive, he’s a shining star for us. The neat thing about Toby is that he’d be the first thing to tell you it’s the offensive line, or his fullback, or the play of Andrew Luck that lets him do it. He’s really special.”On Andrew Luck…“He’s playing really well. He’s exceeded our hopes for how he would play.”On memories of winning at Coliseum 2 years ago…“I have good memories. Memories I’ll have for the rest of my life. I think there’s no question that everything that’s happened to us as a football team in the last 3 years makes us who we are. That win is part of it.”

“We have been fortunate as a football team to play the teams that beat USC the week after they beat ‘em.”